and a protest has ended in the vatican where he had been demonstrating against eu laws. he stood on one of the window lenls for more than 24 hours. he was complaining against an eu directive which would reform rules to licenses. operators have said the new rules threaten the jobs of some 600,000 resort workers. still to come, we talk shopping ahead of september retail sales data with a guest who says thrift may be the new bling. >>> european markets are trading town. we did see the green at the start of the show, but no longer the ftse down. same for the dax and cac. ibex held unreasonably well but also trading lower now. in the state, futures indicating a positive start to trade. just a few points higher for the s&p and nasdaq, the dow could open up by 30 points or so when trade gets under way there. on the agenda today in the u.s., weekly jobless claims out at 8:30 eastern, forecast to rise by 10,000. 10:00 a.m. brings august factor orders. expected to drop by 6%. at 2:00 the minutes from last month's fed meeting will be released. james bullard is in memphis, tennessee